Martha Hughes Cannon

She was a physician, the first female senator in the United States, an advocate, suffragette and a sister wife. Martha Hughes Cannon was a remarkable, complicated woman.

From an early age, Martha (Mattie) was drawn to healing, a career that the times dictated was the domain of men. When she was 21 years old, however, she became one of three young women called by Church leadership to go to medical school.

"The Utah Territory of 1870 was a study in contrasts," says producer Nancy Green. "On the one hand, women were considered oppressed by the outside world because of the practice of polygamy. On the other hand, Brigham Young encouraged women to study and work." While the outside world published political cartoons depicting polygamist women in shackles, women in Utah enjoyed unprecedented rights: the right to divorce their husbands, the right to own property, and the right to vote